"I'm not gonna be around for much longer." Jane Fonda has a plan for her final days on Earth.

Jane Fonda has announced she's been diagnosed with cancer. 

The Academy Award winner, 84, announced the news in September 2022 on Instagram, sharing she has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and had begun chemotherapy.

"So, my dear friends, I have something personal I want to share. I’ve been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and have started chemo treatments," she wrote in her post.

"This is a very treatable cancer. 80 per cent of people survive, so I feel very lucky."

Fonda explained that she's been undergoing chemo for six months, and is "handling the treatments quite well," adding that she "will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism".

"Cancer is a teacher and I’m paying attention to the lessons it holds for me. One thing it’s shown me already is the importance of community. Of growing and deepening one’s community so that we are not alone," she wrote. 

"And the cancer, along with my age - almost 85 - definitely teaches the importance of adapting to new realities."

Jane Fonda in April 2022. Image: Getty. Following her diagnosis announcement three months on, the actress has admitted she doesn't have much time left. 

However, she is "not afraid of death". 

"I’m not going to be around for much longer," she said to Entertainment Tonight in a new interview.

"When you get to be my age, you better be aware of the amount of time that is behind you, as opposed to in front of you. I mean, that’s just realistic."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jane Fonda (@janefonda)

Fonda, who has devoted herself to political and climate activism since the 1960s, added that she is "ready" to go. 

"I’ve had a great life," she shared. "Not that I want to go, but I’m aware that it’s going to be sooner rather than later."

The Grace and Frankie actress acknowledged how she's in a privileged position – with health insurance and access to the best doctors and treatments – compared to "far too many" Americans. 

"Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another and far too many don’t have access to the quality health care I am receiving and this is not right," she wrote earlier this year.

Fonda ended her most recent interview by calling on public figures to use their platforms for good. 

"For better or worse, celebrities bring attention to a subject matter... We also need to be talking much more not just about cures but about causes so we can eliminate them," she said. "For example, people need to know that fossil fuels cause cancer. So do pesticides, many of which are fossil fuel-based, like mine.

"Believe me, I will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism."

In her final days, the actor is dedicating her time to raising money and awareness for her organisation, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP), which she founded in 1995.

"I founded it 28 years ago at a time when Georgia [in the United States] had the highest rate of teen pregnancy," she said. "I met kids that were 10,11,12 who were having babies. It's very hard to take advantage of opportunities that come along if you're young and you have a baby. It's very hard to have a future when you're young and have a baby."

"So the state gets robbed of all that human potential, it costs the state a lot of money. And on a human level, it costs a lot," Fonda explained. "Now there are some young girls who will have a baby and it will make them grow up and they'll be wonderful mothers, and they'll turn out great. That's the exception."

The actor, after almost six decades of philanthropy, is intent on accomplishing even more with the time she has left.

"[I want to] see my grandkids get old enough so I go out knowing they're gonna be okay. That would be important," she said. "But, you know, my work on the climate is gonna be something. I'll be doing that untill I drop."

This article was published on September 3, 2022 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature image: Instagram/@janefonda